An advanced seismic protection technology: the damped cable system

Selected topics from structural studies carried out on the damped cable system are presented herein. This seismic protection technique has been the subject of a European Community-funded Research Project, recently completed, where it was detailed, implemented, and assessed from analytical/numerical, experimental, architectural, and economic viewpoints. This allowed establishing the required scientific and technological basis for bringing the system to an industrial level. After a general framing of the system characteristics, this paper offers a demonstration of the on-site experimental section of the Project, developed on a full-scale mock-up retrofitted by damped cables. An example design of the system follows, with regards to the seismic rehabilitation of a medium-rise steel office building, representative of one of its preferential fields of application. Attainment of the enhanced performance objectives assumed in this design highlights the potentialities of damped cables as an advanced seismic-control strategy for framed structures.